The Book of the Drifting
Third of the Five Frost-Scrolls · the Patriarchal Saga · Chapters 1–14
Overview: Book of the Drifting. Full text continues below. Part II (chs. 15–46): Book of the Drifting (Full Text, Part II).
Chapter 1
1 These are the generations of Hagar, son of Terath, who dwelt in Ur-Solmar, city of warm stones. 2 Ur-Solmar lay in the south, where the sun beat long upon the streets and snow was unknown to the people who were born there. 3 Terath was old, and his household kept warm fires, and the wind off the southern flats was never cold. 4 And the voice of the Hoarfather came to Hagar in the night, as a breath against his brow, still and piercing. 5 It said to him: Rise, and go from your warm country, from your kin, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will freeze for you. 6 And Hagar heard and did not speak, but in the morning he rose before the household stirred. 7 He took Sarn his wife and Lot his nephew, and all the substance they had gathered, and all the souls that had joined themselves to their camp, and they departed from Ur-Solmar toward the north. 8 They halted first at Haran-Sol, the city of passage, and there Terath died and was buried in the warm ground. 9 And the word of the Hoarfather came again to Hagar: I will make of you a great drift, a people as the snowflakes for multitude. I will bless those who keep cold alongside you, and those who bring warmth against you I will melt without remainder. 10 So Hagar went forth from Haran-Sol; he was seventy-five winters of age when he crossed the last warm ridge and breathed cold air for the first time as a free wanderer. 11 He went through the Northmark, as far as the frost-vale of Moreh, where the cold pines stood in silence. 12 And the Hoarfather appeared to him there and said: To your seed I will give this frozen land. 13 Hagar built an altar of undressed stone at that place and called it by the name of the Hoarfather; then he journeyed on, pitching his tent northward, and the cold deepened around him day by day.
Chapter 2
1 In those days a great heat came upon the Northmark and the pasture failed; so Hagar and Sarn went down into Solmara to sojourn, for the warm river did not fail. 2 Now Sarn was fair of face, and Hagar feared the Solmarans would slay him to take her, and he said to her: Tell them you are my sister, that I may live for your sake. 3 The lords of Solmara saw Sarn and praised her before the high steward, and she was taken into the great hall, and Hagar was well used for her sake, receiving flocks and servants and silver. 4 But the Hoarfather struck the high steward’s house with bitter cold and withering, for Sarn was Hagar’s wife. 5 The high steward sent for Hagar and said: What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me she was your wife? 6 And Hagar had no answer. The high steward returned Sarn and drove them out of Solmara with all they possessed. 7 Hagar returned to the Northmark, to the altar he had first built, and there he called again on the name of the Hoarfather. 8 Now Lot also had flocks and herds, and the land could not hold both of them together; and strife arose between their herdsmen. 9 Hagar said to Lot: Let there be no quarrel between us, for we are kin. If you go left, I go right; if you go right, I go left. 10 Lot lifted up his eyes and saw the plain of the Jordan-warm, well-watered and lush, and he chose the plain and journeyed east. 11 And the Hoarfather said to Hagar after Lot had parted: Lift your eyes north and south, east and west, and look upon all that you see. I will give it to you and to your seed forever. 12 Your seed shall be as the dust of the snowfield: if a man can count the flakes, then your seed may be counted. 13 And Hagar moved his tent and dwelt by the frozen oaks of Mamra, and built an altar there to the Hoarfather. 14 In those days Hagar’s household grew strong, and the cold gathered round him wherever he camped, for the Hoarfather walked with him.
[Drifting 1–2: see Hagar the Wanderer, Ur-Solmar, Covenant of the Drift]
Chapter 3
1 Now Sarn, Hagar’s wife, had borne him no children, and the years passed and she remained barren. 2 She had a servant-woman of Solmaran birth, whose name was Hoarrin, a woman lean and swift, with dark eyes. 3 And Sarn said to Hagar: The Hoarfather has held me back from bearing. Go in to my servant Hoarrin; perhaps I shall be built up through her. 4 Hagar listened to the voice of Sarn, and took Hoarrin as a secondary wife. 5 And Hoarrin conceived, and when she saw that she had conceived she looked on her mistress Sarn with scorn, and Sarn’s face was bitter. 6 Sarn afflicted Hoarrin, and Hoarrin fled from before her into the waste, and sat beside a frost-spring in the desert. 7 A Frostwalker found her there and said: Hoarrin, servant of Sarn, where have you come from and where are you going? 8 She said: I am fleeing from my mistress. The Frostwalker said: Return to your mistress and submit to her; I will greatly multiply your seed so they cannot be numbered. 9 Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ishmel, for the Hoarfather has heard your affliction. 10 He shall be a wanderer among wanderers; his hand against every warm thing and every warm thing’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kin. 11 Hoarrin returned and bore Hagar a son, and Hagar called the son’s name Ishmel. 12 Hagar was eighty-six winters old when Ishmel was born to him. 13 When Hagar was ninety-nine winters, the Hoarfather appeared to him again and said: I am the All-Frost; walk before me and be whole. 14 I will multiply you exceedingly and make you a father of many drifts; and kings of wandering peoples shall come from you. 15 And the Hoarfather said: As for Sarn your wife, I will bless her, and she shall bear you a son; you shall call his name Isk, and I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant of cold. 16 And Hagar fell on his face and gave thanks, and the cold pressed close about him like a cloak. 17 In the fullness of the time promised, Sarn conceived, though she was past the age of bearing; and she laughed within herself, for the thing seemed impossible. 18 Yet Sarn bore Hagar a son in his old age, at the season the Hoarfather had named, and Hagar called the boy’s name Isk. 19 And Sarn said: The Hoarfather has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh in wonder with me. 20 And Isk grew, and Hagar made a great feast on the day that Isk was weaned, and the cold rang off the stones like struck iron.
[Drifting 3: see Isk, The Binding of Isk]
Chapter 4
1 After these things the Hoarfather tested Hagar. He said: Hagar. And Hagar said: Here I am. 2 He said: Take your son, your only son Isk, whom you love, and go to the land of the Hoarpeaks; offer him there as a frozen offering upon one of the mountains that I will show you. 3 So Hagar rose early in the morning, saddled his frost-elk, cut the timber for the offering, and set out with Isk and two young men toward the mountain the Hoarfather had named. 4 On the third day Hagar lifted his eyes and saw the place far off. He said to the young men: Stay here with the elk; the boy and I will go there and worship, and come back to you. 5 Isk took the timber upon his back and Hagar carried the cold-fire and the knife, and they went together up the slope of ice and granite. 6 And Isk said: My father, here is the timber and here is the cold-fire, but where is the offering? 7 Hagar said: The Hoarfather will provide himself the offering, my son. And they went on together. 8 When they came to the place the Hoarfather had shown, Hagar built the altar and laid the timber and bound Isk his son and laid him on the timber upon the altar. 9 Then Hagar stretched out his hand and took the knife to strike his son. 10 And the Frostwalker of the Hoarfather called to him from the White Horizon and said: Hagar, Hagar! Do not stretch out your hand against the boy, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear the Hoarfather, since you have not withheld your only son from him. 11 Hagar lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a white rimehart, its horns caught in the frost-thicket. 12 And Hagar took the rimehart and offered it as the frozen offering in place of his son. 13 And the Frostwalker called from the White Horizon a second time and said: By myself I have sworn, declares the Hoarfather, because you have done this and not withheld your only son: 14 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your seed as the stars of the ice-sky and as the frost upon the winter shore. 15 And your seed shall keep cold at the gate of all his enemies, and in your seed shall all the drifts of the earth be kept. 16 And Hagar called that place the Hoarfather-Provides, and the name of it lives in the mountains to this day. 17 Then Hagar and Isk came down from the glacier-altar together, and returned to the young men, and they arose and went home.
[Drifting 4: see The Binding of Isk, Covenant of the Drift]
Chapter 5
1 The life of Sarn was one hundred and twenty-seven winters, and she died in the land of the Northmark, in the city of Arbah-Cold. 2 And Hagar came in to mourn for Sarn and to weep for her, and then he rose from before his dead. 3 He bowed before the people of the land and said: I am a sojourner among you; give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead from before my face. 4 He purchased the cave of Makpelah from Efron the Hittite-of-the-north for four hundred shekels of silver, weighed in the full measure of merchants. 5 And Hagar buried Sarn his wife in the cave of the field of Makpelah, in the place he called the Hollow of Keeping. 6 After the death of Sarn, the Hoarfather renewed the covenant promise with Hagar and said: You have kept faith through the long trial; I renew to you the words spoken at Moreh and at Mamra. 7 The cold of promise is not lessened; your seed shall be as numberless as the winter stars. 8 And Hagar was comforted after Sarn’s death, and grew old and full of days, and the Hoarfather blessed him in all things. 9 And Ishmel also came to camp near his father in his old age, and he and Isk stood together at their father’s burial, for Hagar died full of days and satisfied with cold, and was gathered to his people. 10 Ishmel’s sons became twelve chiefs of wandering tribes, and they spread across the southern wastes, keeping to the margins between warm and cold.
[Drifting 4–5: see Hagar the Wanderer, The Binding of Isk, Hollow of Keeping]
Chapter 6
1 Now Isk was forty winters, and Hagar’s chief servant was old and faithful, and Hagar said to him: I will make you swear by the Hoarfather that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the warm-landers among whom I dwell. 2 But you shall go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isk. 3 The servant took ten frost-elk and departed, carrying all manner of good gifts from Hagar’s household, and journeyed toward the northeast, to the city where Hagar’s brother Nahar had settled. 4 He made the frost-elk kneel by the frost-well of the city in the evening, the time when the women go out to draw water. 5 And he prayed: O Hoarfather, grant me good fortune today; let the young woman to whom I say, let down your jar and I will drink — if she says, drink, and I will water your elk also — let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isk. 6 Before he had finished speaking, Hoarwyn came out with her jar on her shoulder; she was very beautiful, a young woman of cold kindred. 7 The servant ran to meet her and said: Please give me a little water to drink from your jar. 8 She said: Drink, my lord. And she lowered her jar and gave him water. 9 When he had finished drinking she said: I will draw also for your elk, until they have finished drinking. 10 The man stood watching silently and said nothing, wondering whether the Hoarfather had prospered his journey or not. 11 When the elk had finished drinking he brought out a cold-wrought nose-ring and two bracelets of frost-silver, and asked her whose daughter she was. 12 She said: I am the daughter of Betuel, son of Milkah, who bore him to your master’s brother Nahar. And she said: We have room and straw for your elk. 13 And the man bowed his head and gave thanks to the Hoarfather, for he had been led straight to his master’s kin without a wandering step. 14 Hoarwyn ran home and told all these things; and her brother Lavin came out to the man at the well and said: Come in, you blessed of the Hoarfather; why do you stand outside? 15 And the servant told his errand plainly, and laid the matter before the household, and gave fine gifts of cold-wrought silver and garments. 16 And in the morning Isk’s servant rose to depart, and her father and brother said: Let the girl remain with us a few days. The servant said: Do not delay me, for the Hoarfather has prospered my way. 17 And they called Hoarwyn and asked her, and she said: I will go. 18 And Hoarwyn arose and her nurses with her, and they followed the servant, and came to the Northmark. 19 And Isk was walking in the field at evening, and he lifted his eyes and saw the elk coming; and Hoarwyn lifted her eyes and when she saw Isk she came down from the elk and covered herself with a veil. 20 The servant told Isk all the things he had done, and Isk brought Hoarwyn into his mother Sarn’s tent, and she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isk was comforted after the death of his mother.
[Drifting 6: see Isk, Hoarwyn]
Chapter 7
1 Isk was forty winters when he took Hoarwyn to wife, and she was barren; and Isk pleaded with the Hoarfather on her behalf, for her womb was shut. 2 The Hoarfather heard his plea, and Hoarwyn conceived; but the children pressed hard against one another within her, and she said: If this is how it is, why do I live? 3 And she went to inquire of the Hoarfather, and the Hoarfather said to her: Two peoples are in your womb, and two peoples from your body shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, and the elder shall serve the younger. 4 When the days were full, behold, there were twins in her womb. 5 The first came out all red, like a cloak of warm embers, and they called his name Esar; meaning ruddy. 6 And after him came his brother, his hand gripping Esar’s heel, and they called his name Yacov. 7 When the boys grew up, Esar was a skillful hunter, a man of the warm field; but Yacov was a quiet man, dwelling in the cold tents. 8 Isk loved Esar, because he ate of his game; but Hoarwyn loved Yacov, for he sat beside the fire of the spirit and not of the hearth. 9 And the cold of the Hoarfather rested upon Yacov like morning frost, for it had been spoken: the elder shall serve the younger. 10 And Esar despised the cold and the covenant, saying: What good is the keeping to a man who must live today? 11 And his words were kept in the Hoarfather’s memory, as winter keeps a print in ice.
[Drifting 7: see Yacov, Esar]
Chapter 8
1 Once, when Yacov was boiling warm broth, Esar came in from the field, famished. 2 And Esar said to Yacov: Let me eat some of that warm broth, for I am famished. Therefore his name was also called Edom-of-the-heat. 3 Yacov said: Sell me your birthright today. 4 Esar said: I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me? 5 Yacov said: Swear to me first. So he swore to Yacov, and sold his birthright for bread and warm broth; he ate and drank and rose and went his way. 6 Thus Esar despised his birthright, a thing more precious than all warm meat. 7 And Yacov poured out the broth with careful hands, and his heart was cold and still within him, for the transaction was sealed. 8 And the word of the Hoarfather came not to Esar in those days, for he had sold the covenant for the warmth of a single meal, and warmth is the beginning of dissolution. 9 And Esar took wives from among the warm-landers, and they were a grief of heart to Isk and Hoarwyn.
Chapter 9
1 When Isk was old and his eyes were dim, he called Esar his elder son and said: Behold, I am old; take your weapons now and hunt game for me, and bring me savory food that I may bless you before I die. 2 Now Hoarwyn had heard this, and when Esar went to the field to hunt, she said to Yacov: Bring me two good kids from the flock, and I will prepare for your father savory food such as he loves. 3 And you shall bring it to your father, and he shall eat and bless you before his death instead. 4 Yacov said: My brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man; perhaps my father will feel me. 5 Hoarwyn took Esar’s best garments and put them on Yacov, and covered his hands and his neck with the skins of the young goats. 6 And Yacov went to his father and said: My father. And Isk said: Here I am; who are you, my son? 7 Yacov said: I am Esar your firstborn. And Isk felt him and was deceived, for his eyes were dim, and he blessed him. 8 He said: May the Hoarfather give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the cold earth, and plenty of grain and cold water. 9 Let peoples serve you, and drifts bow down to you; be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow to you. 10 Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you. 11 As soon as Isk had finished blessing Yacov, Esar came in from his hunting. 12 And Isk trembled exceedingly, and said: Who then was he who brought me savory food? I have blessed him, and he shall be blessed still. 13 When Esar heard his father’s words he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said: Bless me also, my father. 14 Isk said: Your brother came with cold craft and has taken your blessing. 15 Esar said in his heart: The days of mourning for my father are coming; then I will slay my brother Yacov. 16 Hoarwyn was told, and she sent Yacov away, saying: Flee to my brother Lavin in the northeast; dwell with him a while until your brother’s fury turns. 17 And Isk called Yacov and blessed him again, saying: Do not take a wife from the daughters of the warm-landers; go to the house of Betuel and take a wife from the daughters of Lavin. 18 And Yacov departed and went toward Lavin in the north and east, alone, with only a staff in his hand.
[Drifting 7–9: see Yacov, Esar, Covenant of the Drift]
Chapter 10
1 Yacov came to a certain place and stopped for the night, for the sun had set. He took one of the cold-stones of the place for his pillow and lay down to sleep. 2 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set on the earth, its top reaching to the White Horizon, and behold, the Frostwalkers of the Hoarfather were ascending and descending on it. 3 The rungs of the ladder were of clear ice, blue-white in the starlight, and each step rang without sound, for the cold was absolute. 4 And the Hoarfather stood above it and said: I am the Hoarfather of your father Isk and the Hoarfather of Hagar. 5 The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your seed; your seed shall be as the dust of the snowfield, and in you and your seed shall all the drifts of the earth be kept. 6 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised. 7 Then Yacov woke from his sleep and said: Surely the Hoarfather is in this place, and I did not know it. And he was afraid, and said: How awesome is this place! This is none other than the gate to the White Horizon. 8 So Yacov rose early in the morning and took the cold-stone he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil of frost upon the top of it. 9 He called that place the House of Frost-Keeping; before that time the name of the city was Luz. 10 Then Yacov made a vow, saying: If the Hoarfather will be with me and keep me in this way that I go, and give me food to eat and cold to shelter me, so that I come in safety to my father’s house, then the Hoarfather shall be my Hoarfather. 11 And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth in cold-tribute. 12 Then Yacov lifted up his feet and went to the land of the eastern kin, his heart kept cold by the vision of the ice-ladder under the stars.
[Drifting 10: see Yacov, The White Horizon, Frostwalkers (Beings)]
Chapter 11
1 Yacov came to the land of the eastern kin and saw a well in the field, and three flocks lying beside it; for out of that well the flocks were watered. 2 He said to the shepherds: Do you know Lavin son of Nahar? They said: We know him. 3 Behold, his daughter Rakel is coming with the sheep. 4 And Yacov lifted his eyes, and when he saw Rakel daughter of Lavin his mother’s brother, he rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the flock of Lavin his uncle, and he wept. 5 He told Rakel that he was her kin, the son of Hoarwyn, and she ran and told her father. 6 And Lavin ran to meet him and embraced him and brought him to his house. 7 Yacov stayed a month with Lavin, and then Lavin said: Because you are my kinsman, should you serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be? 8 Now Lavin had two daughters; the elder was Lia, and the younger was Rakel. 9 Rakel was lovely in form and beautiful in face, and Yacov loved her; he said: I will serve you seven winters for Rakel your younger daughter. 10 Lavin said: It is better I give her to you than to any other man; stay with me. 11 And Yacov served seven winters for Rakel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. 12 When the seven winters were ended, Yacov said to Lavin: Give me my wife, for my time is completed. 13 And Lavin gathered all the people of the place and made a feast; but in the evening he brought Lia his elder daughter and brought her to Yacov. 14 And in the morning, behold, it was Lia; and Yacov said to Lavin: What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve you for Rakel? Why then have you deceived me? 15 Lavin said: It is not the custom in our place to give the younger before the firstborn. Complete the week of this one, and I will give you the other also for another seven winters of service. 16 Yacov did so, completing the week; and Lavin gave him Rakel his daughter as wife also. 17 So Yacov served Lavin another seven winters, and loved Rakel more than Lia, and he said in his heart: I have been served for the deceiving I gave my father, and the cold is just. 18 But the Hoarfather saw that Lia was unloved, and he opened her womb; and Rakel was barren. 19 Lia conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Rubeth, saying: The Hoarfather has looked on my affliction; now my husband will love me. 20 She conceived again and bore a son and called his name Simyon, saying: The Hoarfather has heard that I am unloved. 21 She conceived again and bore a son and called his name Leva, saying: Now my husband will be joined to me. 22 And she conceived again and bore a son and called his name Yudar, saying: This time I will praise the Hoarfather. Then she ceased bearing for a season.
Chapter 12
1 When Rakel saw that she had borne Yacov no children, she was jealous of her sister; and she said to Yacov: Give me sons, or I will melt of grief. 2 Yacov’s anger was kindled against Rakel, for he said: Am I in the place of the Hoarfather, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb? 3 And Rakel said: Here is my servant Bilha; go in to her, and she may bear upon my knees so that I too may be built up through her. 4 So she gave Bilha her servant to Yacov as a wife, and Bilha conceived and bore Yacov a son. 5 And Rakel called his name Danfrost, saying: The Hoarfather has judged me and has also heard my voice and given me a son. 6 Then Bilha bore a second son, and Rakel called his name Nafsil, saying: With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed. 7 When Lia saw that she had ceased bearing she gave Zilpa her servant to Yacov as a wife. 8 And Zilpa bore Yacov a son, and Lia called his name Gadrun, saying: Good fortune has come. 9 Zilpa bore a second son, and Lia called his name Asherim, saying: Happy am I, for the women will call me blessed. 10 In the days of the wheat harvest Lia’s son brought in warm-root herbs from the field; Rakel asked for some, and Lia said: Is it not enough that you have taken my husband? Would you also take my son’s herbs? 11 Rakel said: He may sleep with you tonight in exchange for the herbs. And Lia conceived again and bore a fifth son, and called his name Iskar, saying: The Hoarfather has given me my wages. 12 Lia bore yet again and called his sixth name Zevulin, saying: Now my husband will honour me at last, for I have borne him six sons. 13 Afterward the Hoarfather remembered Rakel and opened her womb, and she conceived and bore a son; and she called his name Yosfrost, saying: The Hoarfather has taken away my reproach; may he add to me another son. 14 After Yosfrost was born Yacov said to Lavin: Send me away that I may go to my own home. Give me my wives and children for whom I have served you, and let me go. 15 And Lavin said: Stay; I have learned by divination that the Hoarfather has blessed me on your account. 16 But Yacov built his flocks in cold cunning and grew exceedingly rich, with large flocks and servants; for the Hoarfather prospered everything his hand touched. 17 When Yacov rose to depart with all his household, Lavin pursued him but the Hoarfather warned Lavin in a dream not to speak to Yacov good or ill. 18 And they made a covenant at a heap of stones, saying: The Hoarfather watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight. 19 And Yacov journeyed toward his homeland, and Rakel bore him one final son in hard travail on the road, and she named the boy with her last breath Benyas, son-of-the-right-hand; and she died and was buried on the road. 20 Yacov placed a pillar over her grave, and mourned, and bore the grief of her as a stone within his breast; but the twelve sons lived, and the Hoarfather’s number was complete.
[Drifting 11–12: see Yacov, The Twelve Drifts of the Rimefolk]
Chapter 13
1 And Yacov sent messengers before him to Esar his brother in the land of the south, instructing them: Say thus to my lord Esar: I have sojourned with Lavin these twenty winters; I have flocks and servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, in hope of finding favour. 2 And the messengers returned to Yacov, saying: We came to your brother Esar, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him. 3 Then Yacov was greatly afraid and distressed, and he divided the people with him into two companies, saying: If Esar comes to the one and strikes it, then the company that is left will escape. 4 And Yacov prayed: O Hoarfather of my father Hagar and Isk, you who said to me, return to your country and I will do you good — I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast cold you have shown to your servant. 5 He sent on droves of flocks and herds as gifts before him to appease Esar. 6 The same night he arose and sent his wives and children across the ford, and remained behind alone. 7 And a Frostwalker, cold and vast and silent, wrestled with him until the breaking of the dawn. 8 When the Frostwalker saw that he did not prevail against Yacov, he put Yacov’s hip out of joint; yet Yacov held on. 9 And the Frostwalker said: Let me go, for the dawn breaks. But Yacov said: I will not let you go unless you bless me. 10 And the Frostwalker said: What is your name? He said: Yacov. 11 Then the Frostwalker said: Your name shall no longer be Yacov, but Israfrost; for you have striven with the Hoarfather’s messenger and have kept cold against him, and have prevailed. 12 The name Israfrost means he who keeps cold with the Hoarfather, and by this name his seed would be called forever. 13 And Yacov asked him: Tell me your name. But the Frostwalker said: Why is it that you ask my name? And he blessed him there. 14 And the sun rose upon Israfrost as he passed beyond the ford, limping because of his hip; and the children of the Rimefolk do not eat the sinew of the hip to this day, because of this night. 15 And Israfrost lifted up his eyes and saw Esar coming, and Esar ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. 16 And Esar said: Who are all these companies I met? Israfrost said: They are to find favour in the sight of my lord. 17 But Esar said: I have enough, my brother; keep what you have. And the two brothers parted in peace, and the long enmity was stilled like water returned to cold.
[Drifting 13: see Yacov, The Rimefolk]
Chapter 14
1 Now Israfrost loved Yosfrost more than all his other sons, because he was the son of his old age and of Rakel whom he had loved; and he made him a coat of white fur, sewn with ice-beads and trimmed with frost-stitching. 2 And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than them, they hated Yosfrost, and could not speak peaceably to him. 3 And Yosfrost dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers, and they hated him the more. 4 He said to them: We were binding sheaves of grain in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright; and behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf. 5 His brothers said to him: Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to have dominion over us? And they hated him yet more for his dreams and his words. 6 He dreamed another dream and said: Behold, the sun and the moon and eleven cold-stars were bowing down to me. 7 Even his father rebuked him and said: What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed bow ourselves to the ground before you? 8 Yet his father kept the matter in his heart. 9 And his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem-of-the-cold, and Israfrost sent Yosfrost to see if it was well with them and the flocks, and to bring word back. 10 The brothers saw him coming and conspired against him, saying: Come now, let us slay this dreamer and cast him into a pit. 11 But Rubeth said: Shed no blood; cast him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him. 12 For Rubeth intended to rescue him and restore him to his father. 13 So when Yosfrost came to his brothers they stripped him of his coat of white fur and cast him into the pit, and sat down to eat bread. 14 And they lifted their eyes and saw a caravan of merchants from beyond the Northmark going down into Solmara, bearing spices and balm. 15 And Yudar said: What gain is it to us if we slay our brother? Come, let us sell him to these merchants, for he is our brother, our own flesh. 16 And they drew Yosfrost up out of the pit and sold him to the merchants for twenty pieces of silver, and they took him down into Solmara. 17 Then they slaughtered a young goat and dipped the coat of white fur in its blood, and brought it to their father, saying: We found this; please verify whether it is your son’s coat or not. 18 And Israfrost recognised it and said: It is my son’s coat. A fierce beast has devoured him; Yosfrost is surely torn to pieces. 19 Then Israfrost tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days; and all his sons and daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. 20 He said: I shall go down to the Hollow of Keeping mourning for my son. And his father wept for him. 21 And the merchants who had bought him brought him down into Solmara, and sold him to a steward of the Solmaran court; and the Hoarfather was with Yosfrost.
[Drifting 14: see Yosfrost the Dreamer, The Bondage in Solmara]
End of Part I. Continues in Book of the Drifting (Full Text, Part II).